Gone But Not Forgotten

Hello, you've landed on DATA eh? - Open Data Toronto's original blog space for data discussions. This is not an active blog at the moment but legacy posts are still here. Have a read ... you can still provide comments.

Monday, June 18, 2012

Never Learning From History Is Like Ignoring Data

By Keith McDonald
Saw some interesting statistics about surviving summer today in the Toronto Sun. In the the paper edition, a number of stats are shown with the article.

What caught my eye in particular is the reference to "Drivers under 25" as a factor in off-road vehicle collisions in Ontario for 2009. The stat is 37%.

That's huge. I was surprised that "under 25" is actually a category unto itself. But, as an afterthought, it isn't surprising in many ways. "Under 25 and vehicles" is often mentioned and connected in negative stats. It's been so since I can remember.

Thinking about open data, it occurred to me to ask what we are taking from data like this.

Common Sense
Maybe, like the article says, common sense has a lot to do with it. Another stat that had me contemplating: "Risk factors for boating related drowning deaths. The "standing up in boat (not urinating)" at 9% and, yes, the "Urinating" stat at 3% made me ponder.

When you take all the information presented from the stats, it's quite clear a lot of needless death is caused by being stupid.

Maybe we need an app for alerting you that you are about to embark on doing something stupid? Perhaps an alert that gives you a stat on the likely outcome of your endeavour? Maybe Siri on the iPhone should say: "The likelihood of your drowning from unrinating while standing in this boat is quite high". I don't know ... maybe it would help!

Ironically, you can't teach common sense but you can teach a phone to tell you when you are being stupid - especially if your phone has access to the right data.

Reminder about the coming DATA eh?MapJam this Wednesday, June 21, at Metro Hall. See the previous post.

What is DATA eh?

DATA eh? is a theme for moving beyond Open Data to true citizen engagement in an Open and Transparent Government. This blog was created as a discussion space featuring interviews, thoughts, criticism, review and much, much more!

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The prevous web re:Brand thing explained

This space used to be a blog about rebranding thetoronto.ca website. Through 2009 and 2010, the City of Toronto web team asked users to help us rebrand toronto.ca. No coincidence, we called the project the web re:Brand. Keith McDonald was host blogger writing from September 2009 to November 2010.

In October, 2011 the web team resurrected this dialogue space as DATA eh? In 2013, the team held off continuing posts due to staffing changes and a desire to put increased efforts at getting more data to the toronto.ca/open web page.

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